


Foxglove

by Corvin



Category: The Hobbit (2012)
Genre: Coffee, Future AU, M/M, Pies, Pseudo-Incest
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-02-18
Updated: 2013-02-26
Packaged: 2017-11-29 16:52:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/689243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Corvin/pseuds/Corvin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It had been 1009 years, 34 weeks, one day and 59 minutes later heretofore known as now. Thranduil was a pie maker.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Not exactly a Pushing Daisies crossover, but close enough.

The change in the world was most apparent when the elves began to leave. It started with Elrond, Galadriel, and their companies sailing over the seas to the Undying Lands. Thranduil was one of the few who stayed behind. 

  
  


He watched as all the populations began to mix, dwarves, hobbits, men, into one race. The orcs were hunted and pushed to the very borders of Utumno before they were completely wiped out. Villages grew to cities, farmlands were developed, and paved roads crisscrossed through the land and made Middle Earth far smaller than it had ever been. He witnessed rich cultures build up, industrial revolutions, monarchies, wars, democracies... 

 

It had been 1009 years, 34 weeks, one day and 59 minutes later heretofore known as now. Thranduil was a pie maker.

 

Thranduil had done many things with his life, exploring all the new possibilities of every coming decade. He particularly enjoyed the moving pictures and soda pop. But as everything kept growing, speeding up, it became more tedious to live his life in the midst of it all. 

  
  


He found himself a niche in a small shop outside the metropolis that Dale had become. He was one of only four people who still remembered the old world. 

 

There was his son, Legolas, who returned to Mirkwood when he learned of his father’s plans to remain in Middle Earth. While he lived in the penthouses on the other side of town at the base of Erebor, he made time to spend three days a week with Thranduil. 

_“It’s just sad. Millenniums have passed you in the blink of an eye. You’ve seen the rise and fall of nations. You’ve ruled a kingdom for centuries, won wars, protected the world from an ancient darkness—Yet ‘The Pie-Hole’ is the best you could come up with.”_

  
  


Thranduil felt he would have lost his will and wasted away without his son by his side.

 

The next was Elurín son of Dior, who had dark skin and darker eyes. He’d found Thranduil several hundred years earlier, when men or ‘humans’ had first begun to harness the lightning. He was looking for someone, but in the meantime wasn’t above making a living finding what other people had lost or hidden.

 

_“There are literally hundreds of puns that actually sound appetizing.”_

Thranduil knew his name and story, and had welcomed him warmly into the midst of himself and his son. 

 

Goldberry had only been with them a hundred and fifty years. Her husband had been there one day and then gone the next. She waited for years for him to return, but he never did. Thranduil and Legolas stumbled across her during a trip to Almaren. She’d been listless, sorrowful, slept for days at a time. But then she followed them home and stayed with them. 

  
  


_“This conversation was old five years ago.”_

She lived in the condo next to Thranduil, and worked in his shop.

 

The former elvenking thought they would continue on, never aging, only having each other. But then…


	2. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about all the mistakes. I am not a good proofreader and poor Tomis can only take so many of my shenanigans :'|

_It was early on a Saturday, Legolas and Elurín were sitting at the counter and Thranduil was refreshing their coffee._

_“Delicious as usual, Ada,” said Legolas toasting his mug._

_“Then feel free to pay for it.”_

_Goldberry came out from the back with a plate in each hand. She slid past Thranduil and set them on the counter. “A father shouldn’t charge his own child to feed him,” she chided._

_“Here-here!” Elurín held his cup out to Thranduil, smiling broadly._

_Thranduil raised an eyebrow. “You’re not my child,” he said blandly. “two dollars for the coffee, three for the cobbler.”_

_Elurín pouted, “those numbers are completely arbitrary.”_

_Thranduil just tapped the counter twice then turned away. This conversation truly had taken place countless times since he’d opened the Pie Hole. It didn’t matter though; he had enough treasure amassed to live comfortably for another four hundred years or so._

_Goldberry smiled at him and reached up to dab at his face with the corner of her apron. Thranduil leaned down so she could reach, “is there something on my face?”_

_“Flour,” she replied._

_The bell over the door rang. Thranduil straightened, “good morning,” he greeted._

_Two young men stumbled in, leaning on each other, snickering like they shared a private joke. The taller one had darker coloring, he whispered something in the shorter’s ear that earned a blush and a flirting smile._

_“If you wouldn’t mind?” Goldberry slapped two menus against Thranduil’s chest._

_“Sure.” The elvenking played waiter most of the time anyhow. Goldberry was the only server he employed, but she never served anyone except Legolas and_ Elurín _._

_He approached the table and pasted on a bright smile. “Good morning, and welcome to the Pie Hole.”_

_They looked up at him. Thranduil wavered from sudden vertigo. Their faces registered in his mind and memories from a thousand years past recalled the names of Thorin Oakenshield’s nephews:_ Fíli and Kíli.

 

He floundered, staring at Kíli but receiving nothing in return but the vapid, polite smile one would offer a stranger. Then the smile twitched a little and Thranduil realized he’d forgotten himself. “Sorry, here,” he dropped one of the plastic menus in front of Kíli. “Can I start you off with anything?” 

 

“Coffee would be great,” said Kíli, “cheers.”  

 

Thranduil turned and held out the other menu to Fíli. The change in him was more apparent than Kíli, who seemed to have simply grown two feet and cut his hair. 

 

Fíli’s hair was short as well, but his face, which had been bearded as long as Thranduil knew of him, was clean shaven. His nose and cheekbones had sharpened from the blunt features of a dwarf. Fíli took the menu and the moment they made eye contact his face went slack. His eyes went unfocused and for a moment it looked like he’d fallen asleep with his eyes open. 

 

Kíli reached across the table to touch his hand, “Fíli, are you okay?” 

 

Fíli didn’t answer him. He was gaping up at Thranduil in shock and horror…and recognition. 

 

Thranduil himself had changed just enough to fit in amongst the humans. The elvenking and his comrades decided amongst themselves when the humans were still growing in number, that they would hide their immortality and blend and live in peace. As elves they already bore a great resemblance, so Thranduil had cut his hair short enough to be contemporary but shaggy enough to hide his ears. 

 

Legolas had done one better and started dying his hair dark twenty years ago. Thranduil wondered if Fíli would notice him. 

 

“Fíli!” Their eye contact broke and Fíli looked at his brother as if just realizing he was there. 

 

Thranduil took the opportunity to escape into the back room. 

 

Goldberry followed after him. “Who were they?” she asked. 

 

“No one,” Thranduil’s brow creased. “At least, they should be no one.” 

 

It wasn’t completely out of the ordinary for them to see people from the past. Legolas had a particular fondness for visiting the former marchwarden of Lórien. But Haldir, like everyone else they might encounter, had no memory of his former life.

 

“ _-and therefore has no idea that it’s hilariously ironic that he’s a park ranger.” Legolas snickered quietly._

 

_Thranduil thought for a moment, “I don’t think that counts as irony.”_

 

“Ada!” Legolas burst in, followed closely by Elurín. “That was them wasn’t it?” 

 

“Yes.” He leaned back against the counter, still frowning, still wondering. How could it be possible? 

 

“Who is ‘they’?” demanded Goldberry. “What should we do about them?” 

 

“They’re already gone.” Elurín said, “the small one said he felt sick and just ran out.” 

 

“Fíli and Kíli,” corrected Thranduil. “They’re two dwarves who died.” 

 

“Thorin’s nephews,” added Legolas. And then Goldberry and Elurín nodded in understanding, for they knew little names from Thranduil and Legolas’ time before they, but they knew of Thorin Oakenshield.

 

The elvenking could sense the apprehension in the room at the thought of Thorin. His own thoughts trailed after the nephews that had left his shop and he wondered…if they had come into the world again and found one another, was it possible they’d found Thorin as well? 

 

“You have more customers,” Elurín gestured towards the door. “Maybe we should go back out there?” 

 

Goldberry looked up at Thranduil again, touching his shoulder. “Are you okay?” 

 

Thranduil nodded, “I’ll be fine.” He looked at her when she remained at his side. “I will, I just need a moment.” 

 

Her concerned expression didn’t change, but she relented. “I’ll…see to the front then.” 

 

Elurín pushed the door open for her and mouth behind her back ‘ _I’ll_ see to the front.’ It should be fine; Most of their customers that early in the morning wanted a quick coffee and maybe a muffin. 

 

“I suppose this means we get to hear all about Thorin again,” Legolas sighed. 

 

“Legolas—”

 

“No.” His son glared up at him, “you pine for him for years at a time. I’ll never understand what you saw in a stubborn dwarf who killed himself on his mad quest.” 

 

Thranduil’s lips quirked minutely and he said, “to be fair it was the war directly after the quest that killed him.” 

 

“ _Ada_ ,” Legolas shook his head. “The only comfort I ever took after the passing of all the friends I knew was that you were still with me.” He moved close enough to rest his head against Thranduil’s shoulder. “The thought of him,” his voice dropped to a whisper, “it frightens me.” 

 

“There was never anything to the relationship beyond his hatred and my longing.” Thranduil wrapped his arms around Legolas and held him close. “Even if he were here again, even if he remembered, he would have nothing to do with us.” And though he tried to hide it, Thranduil knew his son could hear the bitterness in his tone. Life among emotive humans had slowly worn away at their cold masks. 

 

Legolas nodded against his shoulder, only half relaxed, but willingly dropped the subject. 

 

After they composed themselves and went back out to face the world, Thranduil thought back on Fíli. The young dwarf (or man, he supposed) had few dealings with Thranduil. Even though he’d recognized him, Thranduil was sure that Fíli would have more on his mind than bothering with such a small part of his life. But then… 

 

-.-.-.-

 

“I died!” 

 

It was the first thing Fíli shouted when he burst into the Pie Hole just before closing time. 

 

Thranduil had been wiping down the stations. He frowned at Fíli and looked pointedly at the startled old woman that Elurín was helping at the register. 

 

Fíli murmured a sheepish apology and shuffled to the bar in front of Thranduil. “I did die though,” he said petulantly. 

 

The elderly woman accepted her change and left, but not without glancing disapprovingly at Fíli. 

 

Fíli was quiet until the door shut. But as soon as it stopped swinging he started up gain. “You’re an elf!” He yelled, pointing at accusing finger at Thranduil. 

 

“You don’t have to yell” — “No he’s not” — “we’re all elves” — “what’s your point?” The four of them responded all at once. 

 

There was a beat of heavy and confused silence. Then Legolas said, “in retrospect we should have agreed on a story in case he came back.” 

 

“Wait,” Fíli said slowly, “you’re all?” 

 

“He only recognized me, remember?” Thranduil dropped his rag and braced his hands on the counter. “What do you want?” 

 

“I—” Fíli frowned and closed his mouth. Then he opened it. Then he closed it. “I don’t know,” he finally replied. “Confirmation that I’m not crazy?” 

 

“How long have you known?” asked Goldberry. 

 

“I didn’t, not until I saw him.” Fíli chewed his lip, “we were just getting breakfast…” He groaned and dropped his face into his hands, “this is all a huge mess.” He whimpered quietly, muttering things to himself that none of them could understand. 

 

Goldberry sidled up next to Thranduil and elbowed his side. Thranduil shook his head without looking at her. She elbowed him again and pointed at Fíli’s head. She clearly expected him to do something about his distress, even though he’d been absolutely no comfort to her…ever. 

 

Elurín stood behind Fíli and pointed enthusiastically at Legolas. It seemed like a good idea to the elvenking. Legolas was the youngest of them all and the only one to be true friends with a dwarf. They turned to him beseechingly but he had his hands up and was already backing towards the exit. 

 

“What are you doing?” 

 

At some point Fíli looked up and noticed their actions. Elurín coughed and took a seat next to him at the bar. “We’re deciding amongst ourselves who should comfort you.” 

 

Fíli’s eyes widened like the notion terrified him. “I’m fine,” he said quickly, “well, not fine but…please don’t.” 

 

Goldberry nudged Thranduil again. He bumped her back with his hip, causing her to stumble a little to the side. “Can I get you some coffee?” He asked Fíli. “Tea?” 

 

“Coffee, please.” 

 

“Cream and sugar?” 

 

“Yeah, uh, both.” 

 

Grateful for something to do with his hands, Thranduil decided to brew a fresh pot rather than give Fíli the last of the decaf. He could go for a cup too, something hot and soothing for his nerves. 

 

“So what all do you remember?” Legolas asked, taking the seat on the other side of Fíli. “Do you still remember your current life?”

 

“Yeah,” Fíli stared down at his twiddling thumbs. “When I remembered everything, it was like I woke up from a dream. I remember the battle, and I remember feeling pain and the sensation of dying. It was like I was experiencing them all over again in an instant, but then I was sitting in the booth.” He pressed his lips together. “I waited all day for one of them to fade, but they didn’t. I don’t know what to do, especially about Kíli,” he paused. 

 

It was quiet for almost a minute before Thranduil looked over his shoulder. Elurín, Legolas and Goldberry were sitting patiently while Fíli looked between the three of them. 

 

Thranduil looked back at the coffee dribbling into the pot. He waited a little longer, tapping his fingers “…Are you waiting for them to ask?” He finally asked. 

 

“Oh!” Goldberry responded first. “What happened with Kíli? Did he not remember as well?” 

 

“No,” Fíli breathed. “he doesn’t remember anything. He thinks we’re still, uhm, oh God.” He trailed off. “We’d been going slow because we wanted to make it work. We only just last night decided to…take…the next step. Oh god,” Fíli wailed, “I had sex with my _brother_!” 

 

Elurín was the only one to respond. He did so with a loud, prolonged “haah!” He finished with a toothy smile at Goldberry. Her eyebrow was arched in disapproval. “No?” he asked. 

 

“Not so much,” said Legolas. 

 

Thranduil hunched over the coffee pot, his shoulders shaking with silent laughter. He shut it off and poured the half a cup that was ready and replaced the pot. He grabbed a carton of milk out of the mini fridge under the smoothie station and plopped both on the counter. “Coffee, cream,” he pointed next to the ketchup where Goldberry was leaning, “sugar.” 

 

“Thank you.” Fíli made no move to touch any of it. “Did—did he die too, Kíli?” 

 

Goldberry, Elurín and Legolas all turned to Thranduil. He frowned at them but answered, “in the battle, seconds after you.” Fíli’s breath hitched. “But Erebor remained liberated, and the heir of Dale was returned to his home.” 

 

“My uncle reclaimed his home then?” Fíli stared up at Thranduil is watery eyes. The elvenking wanted so badly to lie. 

 

“Thorin Oakenshield fell also. Dain Ironfoot took the throne.” 

 

Fíli choked out a pained noise. “Dain who refused to even aid us?” He grabbed the mug and drained half of it, before he held it away sputtering. “Too hot.” 

 

“I put milk down.” Thranduil hesitated, then reached out and gripped Fíli’s wrist. “I have seen many people who have died in my years here. Thorin may have very well lived again and had the happy life I know you wished for him.” 

 

“He does alright,” Fíli tugged at his arm half-heartedly, “I work for him here. He’s not my uncle, he’s my boss.” 

 

Thranduil stared over Fíli’s shoulder to avoid making eye contact with the three people he knew were glaring at him warningly. He could hear the lectures they were preparing for after Fíli left, as though he was a child in need of keeping. Thranduil squeezed Fíli’s wrist one more time before he let go. “And is he doing well?” 

 

“I suppose so.” Fíli took a deep shuddering breath. “Yeah, I suppose he is.” He stood up and straightened his coat. “And so was Kíli until I ran out of our apartment two hours ago.” 

 

Elurín blinked, “you moved in together before you had sex?” Goldberry reached over and smacked his arm.

 

Fíli ignored him, kept looking at Thranduil. “So uh, can I come back sometime?” 

 

“Of course,” Thranduil answered without thinking. 

 

“And are there any more of us?” Thranduil raised his eyebrows and Fíli amended, “are there any more people who remember their…past lives?” 

 

“You’re the first we’ve ever seen.” Thranduil picked his rag back up and started to clean the small mess Fíli made with the coffee. 

 

“Okay.” Fíli sounded disappointed. “Okay, thank you.” He nodded once more to all of them and left, slumping out the doors and disappearing out of sight. 

 

They watched the door swing and settle, and then the open/closed sign sway a little after that. Thranduil took the mug and milk and put them in the sink and fridge respectively. 

 

Elurín huffed loudly, “well, I certainly hope this doesn’t mark a new trend.” Goldberry tittered and Legolas nodded. 

 

Thranduil hummed quietly. “Let’s take this upstairs,” he said. “Manuel is coming in to do the floors tonight.” 

 


End file.
